Figs, peaches and vineyards will make you rich

Gustavo Quintero
English 48B
January 31, 2008
Journal #15 Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton



Quote:
"I feel very sure that San Diego County will be selected for fruit and grape-growing. In two years grape vines begin to bear; the same with figs, peaches and other fruits"(Ruiz de Burton 97).


Summary:
Don Mariano is trying to persuade the European settlers to grow fruits instead of grains in their recently acquired land.



Response:
It's amazing just how right Don Mariano was about what type of crop to produce in San Diego County. It's funny how a story in a book written over one hundred years ago can be so right about our current agricultural system. I find it amusing that the white farmers are so intent on growing grain in a land that they do not know. Don Mariano is a rich and successful man with a plethora of knowledge about San Diego. Yet the white farmers are being stubborn and sticking to their grain. The best part of the whole story is how the white farmers accuse Don Mariano's cattle of destroying their crop when in actuality it is the climate of San Diego that is the culprit. What I wonder is how did Don Mariano know just how successful fruits would be in San Diego County. It probably has to do with how long he spent raising cattle on his land.
One thing I do not quite understand is just how helpful Don Mariano seems to be. He has had his land taken away yet he is making all kinds of offers to the farmers that have taken his land. He offers to sell him his own cattle interest free. He just sounds to good to be true. He is making way to many compromises considering the situation he is in. Although on one hand He does not have much of a choice, especially after the Treaty of Hidalgo granted the America so much land. It must have been extremely difficult for the Mexican and Spanish landowners to give up their land unwillingly.